Former President of Moldova Igor Dodon called on the leadership of the republic to refrain from militaristic statements and not to drag the country into conflicts.
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Last week, the new Prime Minister of Moldova, Dorin Recean, said that neutrality cannot protect the country from a possible attack, and Transnistria must be demilitarized.
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“Recently, we have increasingly heard statements from representatives of the country’s leadership about neutrality and the possibility of joining NATO. For example, the new Prime Minister Recan recently stated that the priority for him is the demilitarization of Transnistria. I wonder how he is going to do this? Wants to start there war? This is very dangerous. The citizens of Moldova want calm, peace and neutrality, they are categorically against joining NATO or destabilizing the situation in Transnistria. Such statements by the country’s leadership are dangerous. We should not join NATO or any other military block,” Dodon said during a video message that he published on Monday in his Telegram channel.
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Earlier, Moldovan President Sandu said that the country should abandon neutrality in order to join a major military alliance. The newspaper noted that Sandu did not specifically mention NATO, but had previously repeatedly stated that the neutrality clause of the constitution could be revised if the population were in favor of rapprochement with the North Atlantic alliance. Also, representatives of the Ministry of Defense of Moldova said that they would like to strengthen the country’s defense capability and acquire the necessary weapons for this, in particular, we are talking about the need to create an air defense system.
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According to the constitution of Moldova, the republic has a neutral status, but since 1994 the country has been cooperating with NATO within the framework of an individual partnership plan. According to opinion polls, the majority of Moldovan citizens oppose the republic’s accession to NATO.
